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Wong Chen

Hi. I don’t know if any of you have received any GST scam calls lately? The calls are from a “customs department” based in Kedah. I received the same call 3 times last week. I spoke to three different “officers” who all asked for my IC. I scolded them on all 3 occasions and said that if they have no record of who I am, why did they call me in the first place. On the last call, I asked for the woman “officer” for her IC and she promptly put down the phone.

Do note that the GST phone call is a scam and as such please do not give your details to the caller.

However, the reason why I am putting up this posting is that I found out that the real Customs Department knew about this scam problem in December 2017. They even put up the posting on 20th December 2017 on their website, stating that many have been scammed for thousands of ringgit .

Today is 29th January 2018, that is almost 40 days after the Customs’ posting. Why are these scammers still operating? Why can’t the Customs/Police track and arrest these scammers?

We said goodbye to Kevin Ling, our intern today. Mr. Leong, the head of my volunteers corp, belanja the office to a farewell dinner for Kevin at Nando’s.

Kevin, who hails from the town of Kulai, Johor applied for an internship in late October. He had decided to take a gap year and was looking to intern with us for a few months. Initially, my officers were a bit uncertain but he won them over at the interview stage.

Kevin applied himself quickly to all the tasks we assigned him. He demonstrated a “can do everything” attitude. He was instrumental at the INVOKE asset declaration exercise. Initially, he was there to assist but after a few days, I put him in charge of the overall management of it. It is very seldom that an intern is given the task to lead on a big project. He showed patience, maturity and dedication when helping most of the MPs go through the difficult exercise of declaring their assets and liabilities.

After the event, we offered Kevin a one year contract to work in my office, which he accepted. We were looking forward to him joining the office formally in January 2018 when he found out last saturday, that he has been accepted to do his masters in law (governance) at Australian National University. We wish Kevin all the best in Australia and we look forward to his return.

As I have said before, today’s Parliament sitting may very well be the very last one for the 13th Term since GE14 is around the corner.

It is very strange to say goodbye to friends and foes, knowing very well that some will be dropped, some are barred, some are retiring and some will lose in GE14. I want to wish all the best of luck and thank everyone for their service to the nation. Opposition MPs who stayed till the very end of today, spontaneously got together and took this last group photo.

At 8.20 pm Pakatan Harapan MPs, together with Warisan ambushed UMNO BN on the vote of the Domestic Trade Ministry budget. The vote strategy was formed during the PKR pre-counsel meeting last week. The idea originated and was executed by YB Manivannan (PKR MP for Kapar) and endorsed by YB Dato Johari Abdul (PKR Chief Whip of Sungai Petani). Party whips from DAP, Amanah, Bersatu and Warisan were then brought into the loop and coordinated.

We decided to send a strong message to the minister that the rakyat is suffering high cost of living and oil prices, which is under the purview of his ministry.

When the bell was rung for a vote, we clearly outnumbered UMNO BN by 7 votes. The counting process started and the counting forms were eventually signed. After that point, other UMNO BN MPs and ministers rushed in and the signed documents were retracted. The process delayed further until they had enough numbers. This is a blatant abuse of the counting process. One of the MP jokingly warned the Speaker not to “turn off the lights” and fix the vote. To add fuel to our anger, and despite our strong protests, the Domestic Trade minister can be seen in the counting area to “supervise” the vote count. The counting process took an inordinate long 15 minutes to count.

The final outcome was 52 for UMNO BN and 51 for Pakatan Harapan.

Ultimately UMNO BN was saved by two senior PAS leaders who abstained from voting. The two senior PAS leaders are Ustaz Idris Ahmad of Bukit Gantang (vice president of PAS) and Hajjah Siti Zailah of Rantau Panjang (head of Kelantan PAS women wing). Once more PAS senior leaders showed their true colours that they are 100% pro UMNO BN. In a surprise move, six of the PAS junior backbenchers voted with us against UMNO BN. One of them explained to me that the high cost of living is a rakyat issue and as such he will vote with his conscience. The message is loud and clear, prepare for 3 corner fights so long as pro UMNO leaders are in charge of PAS.

After the vote was read, we demanded an explanation from the Speaker. Our legitimate protests were dismissed. The hall broke into a chant “TIPU! TIPU! TIPU!”. We walked out en mass and gave a press conference.

If they can blatantly influence the vote in the Dewan, what more in the counting halls of GE14. I therefore appeal to all my readers to become Polling and Counting Agents and protect our ballot boxes.

Due to a lot of comments and questions coming in, I have updated this posting.

My net asset is estimated at RM2.3 million. Most of my assets are held in fixed deposits and investments.

I do not own any house/property. I have always been happy renting. For more than a decade, I was a tenant at the hip and old 1960s Taman Tunku apartments, paying RM1,500 a month. It was a super fantastic two bedroom apartment with sprawling grounds and nice restaurants below. My fellow tenant neighbours were mostly arty and intellectual types.

When I got married, I moved into my wife’s house. She works and has her own money. I paid for the renovations, but the house is 100% owned by her.

When I became a politician, I also made a conscious decision to keep everything liquid on a “just in case” basis. Being a politician and government critic is a relatively dangerous career. Having a house and a mortgage didn’t seem right and I didn’t see the need to speculate on a second home and become a landlord.

I do not have any debt except RM10,400 for my Honda CRV, owing to Parliament. I bought my Honda CRV under a Parliament pay deduction scheme. I am not a car person and see not much value in owning fancy cars. I much prefer books and art. I have two expensive Rolex watches, both were wedding gifts, one from my father and the other from my father in law. The irony is I hate wearing watches but will keep them for my children.